nasa-astronaut-sunita-williams-retires

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, whose career included three missions aboard the International Space Station, has retired after 27 years of service.

The space agency announced the news Tuesday, saying her retirement took effect on December 27, 2025. 

“Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what's possible.

Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, and thank you for your service to NASA and our nation,” NASA said in a statement.

Williams, 60, a former Navy captain, set numerous human spaceflight records, including logging 608 days in space, the second-most cumulative time by a NASA astronaut. She completed nine spacewalks, totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list. She was also the first person to run a marathon in space and ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflight by an American, tied with NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, both logging 286 days during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions. She is an accomplished helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, having logged more than 4,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.

“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favourite place to be,” said Williams. 

“It’s been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times. I had an amazing 27-year career at NASA, and that is mainly because of all the wonderful love and support I’ve received from my colleagues. The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe-inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier. I am super excited for NASA and its partner agencies as we take these next steps, and I can’t wait to watch the agency make history,” she said.

 

Williams, who is of Indian origin, has often spoken about her connection to India, calling her visit to the country a “homecoming”. While on a visit to Delhi recently, she said seeing Earth from space made differences between people seem smaller, adding, “It really makes you feel like we are just one.”

 

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The Needham, Massachusetts, native holds a bachelor’s degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy and a master’s degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.

She launched for the first time aboard space shuttle Discovery with STS-116 in December 2006, and returned aboard space shuttle Atlantis with the STS-117 crew. 

She served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 14/15 and completed a then-record-breaking four spacewalks during the mission.

In 2012, Williams launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 127-day mission as a member of Expedition 32/33. She also served as space station commander for Expedition 33.

Most recently, Williams and Butch Wilmore launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 as part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. 

 

Williams and Wilmore were the first people to fly Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. Their mission should have lasted just a week, but stretched to more than nine months because of Starliner trouble. In the end, they caught a ride home last March with SpaceX. Williams’ crewmate Wilmore left NASA last summer.

Beyond her spaceflight experience, Williams held numerous roles throughout her NASA career, serving as a NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environments Mission Operations) crew member in 2002, which included spending nine days living and working in an underwater habitat. After her first flight, she served as deputy chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office.

She was also the Director of Operations in Star City, Russia, following her second mission to the space station. Most recently, Williams helped establish a helicopter training platform to prepare astronauts for future Moon landings, as per NASA’s statement.

NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, called Williams a “trailblazer in human spaceflight”, saying she shaped the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit. 

“Suni is incredibly sharp, and an all-around great friend and colleague,” said Scott Tingle, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA Johnson. “She’s inspired so many people, including myself and other astronauts in the corps. We’re all going to miss her greatly and wish her nothing but the best.”